The men's individual sprint—the premier event at the Track Cycling World Championships—will have its dream final between defending champion Harrie Lavreysen and his biggest challenger Matthew Richardson. Both powerhouses convincingly secured their places in the best-of-three final for the world title.
On the final day of the 2025 Track Cycling World Championships in Santiago, Chile, the top track sprinters—and thus Lavreysen—will take to the track one last time, competing in the sprinters’ flagship event: the individual sprint. The Dutch rider had no trouble qualifying earlier for the semifinals of the individual sprint tournament. In two sprints, he eliminated Frenchman Rayan Helal from the competition.
Hoogland eliminated early
While Lavreysen qualified effortlessly for the semifinals, his biggest rival in recent years—Jeffrey Hoogland—had a much tougher time. The 32-year-old powerhouse from Nijverdal—who already earned gold, silver, and bronze medals at this World Championships—was defeated in two very tight sprints by Australian Leigh Hoffman.
In other words, we did not get a new Dutch final between Lavreysen and Hoogland. Instead, the final will be between the defending champion and the top favorite and his strongest contender on paper: Matthew Richardson.
Lavreysen seemingly dispatched Nicholas Paul from Trinidad and Tobago with ease in his semifinal, while Richardson had no trouble overcoming Hoffman, the athlete who knocked out Hoogland. The final between Lavreysen and Richardson starts at 19:44 Dutch time.
Men's Sprint semifinals - 1st race
🟢 Richardson 🇬🇧
🔴 Hoffman 🇦🇺
🟢 Lavreysen 🇳🇱
🔴 Paul 🇹🇹#Santiago2025 pic.twitter.com/893y41ur0F
— UCI Track Cycling (@UCI_Track) October 26, 2025
